Plane lands safely

GadgetGav

#1 – 9:27 AM June 18, 2009

I can remember at least two other "Plane lands safely" stories:
The Hudson "water landing" and that JetBlue flight that was covered live on TV (so passengers could watch on seat-back TVs) while it circled to dump fuel and then landed with the nosewheel pointing sideways.

Plane Lands Safely is a relatively common headline, but only ever when the expected outcome was massive death and destruction. So it's not really anything different this time around...

Steven Leckart

#2 – 10:26 AM June 18, 2009

reminds me of *spoiler alert* the ending of La Bête Humaine

philipb

#3 – 11:01 AM June 18, 2009

Co-pilot would be the 1st Officer I believe.

Little girl with family next to me at a hotel breakfast recently "daddy, why is all news breaking news?"

scaught

#4 – 11:04 AM June 18, 2009

Insert quotes from Airplane here.

hallpass

#5 – 11:09 AM June 18, 2009

An actual headline in a newspaper I used to work for read "Boiler Room Fails to Explode." A school had been evacuated because of a problem with the boiler, and to the apparent disappointment of an editor everything turned out OK.

I think that's more descriptive of what CNN and the others might report if they let the foaming-at-the-mouth desire for high-def video of a cartwheeling Boeing get the best of them -- "Airline Disaster Movie Plot Fails to Unfold."

The media in general has a chronic problem understanding anything to do with aviation. Case in point is your reference to the extra flight crew member who "happened to be aboard." I'd bet a good amount of money the extra crew member was a relief pilot normally carried on this seven-hour route.

This is the kind of thing the news networks often turn to in order to fill the 24-hour void. Usually it's a commuter flight or a private airplane with a stuck landing gear. No big deal in almost every case, but hey, the local affiliate has a chopper on the scene and we know we can keep people glued to the screen until the plane touches down -- no matter that the outcome is rarely more dramatic than a few sparks and a firetruck spraying foam.

Two people, who I'm aware of do a good job of righting the general news media's wrongs on this: Miles O'Brien, who's done some good reporting on the Air France tragedy on his blog linked from Boingboing recently. The other is Patrick Smith, who writes the Ask the Pilot column on Salon.com.

A good rule of thumb is that if the networks have time to get a camera on the scene, the situation is well-enough under control that any hope for footage of flaming wreckage will be for naught.

Anonymous Anonymous

#6 – 11:41 AM June 18, 2009

The additional pilot didn't just 'happen' to be aboard. He was a relief pilot, and I would assume he was onboard due to the long duration of the flight, as most likely required by law.

reflex

#7 – 12:08 PM June 18, 2009

Both the pilot and co-pilot are qualified to fly the aircraft. In the cockpit, they split the workload as PF (pilot flying; the person driving) and PNF (pilot not flying; handles navigation, communications, checklist call-out, and cross-checking the PF's actions).

So basically this headline should have read, "Pilot dies on trans-atlantic flight. Other pilot takes over and calls in a third from the cabin to help manage the cockpit workload."

Anonymous Anonymous

#8 – 12:19 PM June 18, 2009

It seems like sensational reportage is like candy.

It's a flash stimulant, empty calories (little nutritional content), and reaches clean through the consumers' (sorry) filters, meaning it is hard to resist, or even more, it's hard to notice that you are 'consuming' something.
It's impulse consumption.
It's compelling.

It's not sugar, fat or salt, but anticipation that is the stimulant here. Anticipation can be in the flavor of worry and concern or some kind of excited eagerness for disaster. Either way there is a sub-rational response to this kind of stimulation that makes people pay attention.

And, Attention - that's the real commodity, our most powerful natural resource.
We pay attention to things, especially the exciting things. Exciting things have contrast.
For most people an all-white canvas is not very exciting. Zebras are cool.

Many of us fly and many of the people that we know fly in airplanes.
Planes land safely all the time, (whew).
Not much for most of us to think about, most of us are not pilots or air traffic controllers.
It's the contrast that make the unusual stand out.

Once we are born, we're alive and that becomes a constant. Alive.

Death is the contrast to life itself.
Death for most people (where I live) seems worrisome and stories of potential death, especially dramatic death (uncertainty) - this is sensational.

Blessings and Love to the Captain of that flight, and his family and friends. I hope the media attention doesn't make their loss more difficult.

Also,
It's seems to me that the direct experience of Blessing and Love is a contrast to most of the other moments of our lives.

Love you all.
Thanks BB & BBG!

WalterBillington

#9 – 2:09 AM June 19, 2009

In the 70s I hear some chap in Kansas launched a paper to illustrate this point - the "Good News". Reported exactly as you've said.

Sales for a while, then tanked.

We all enjoy awful news.